Alternative historical information and alternative news about Columbia University and other U.S. power elite institutions.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

`Canada Lee'

(chorus)They called him Canada LeeAnd he was Broadway’s Native SonHe spoke out for human rightsSo they took away his acting jobs.

(verses)His father came from the CaribbeanIn the early twentieth centuryAnd Lee was born in New YorkAnd grew up in the big cityHe studied the violinAnd performed in the concert hallBut soon he began to noticeHow white were their orchestras.

He ran away to a racetrackAnd learned to ride a horseHe quickly became a jockeyAnd won more than he lostBut the era of Black jockeysWas in the nineteenth centuryOnly whites were now allowedTo ride in their Kentucky Derby. (chorus)

So Lee next tried boxingAnd fought well in the ringHe won more than he lostAnd was renamed “Canada Lee”Despite his many KOsThey would not give him a title fightFor in the Roaring TwentiesWelterweight champs could be only white.But boxing can be brutalAnd in the head he got hit one nightWith a blow that caused bad damageSo in one eye he lost his sightRetiring from the ring,He formed himself a bandYet gigs were hard to findSo he hunted for a new job. (chorus)

He found the Federal TheatreIn an Uptown Harlem churchThey discovered that he could actIf the role was realisticIn `Stevedore’ and `The Big White Fog’In `Native Son’, his big hitHe earned fame and applauseAnd much praise from the critics.

For eight years in the fortiesOn stage, radio or screenHe used his celebrityIn the fight for equalityEd Sullivan smeared him as a “commie”For acting in `Body and Soul’And when he refused to condemn Paul RobesonThey cancelled all his radio shows. (chorus)

The Canada Lee biographical protest folk song was written a few years ago to remind people how, historically, the U.S. corporate entertainment industry has not been reluctant to discriminate against certain actors and actresses on the basis of their political beliefs.